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Pride & Prejudice
CHALLENGING ATTITUDES
» Thursday 23 July 2009 | 5 pm
» The Bohemian Café, 524 Bernard Avenue
An informal afternoon hour showcasing ideas
and people in the Okanagan creative economy. Join us as Peter Ord - curator of the Penticton Museum, Michael V. Smith - professor, writer and activist, and James Chin - psychiatrist, explore the good, bad and ugly sides of pride in all its forms.
» $2 at the door. Refreshments are available at a modest cost.
» Seating is limited, please reserve yours HERE
Experts Examine the Value of Pride
There is nothing quite like pride to make a community hum. From the individual, right up to the country, a strong sense of pride gives us a sense of belonging, a sense of purpose, and a sense of community.
Pride comes in many guises. We raise our children to have a positive sense of self-esteem. We raise flags each year to remind ourselves of the value of our country. We build monument to honour our leaders. But pride also comes in the form of re-building - from the inside out.
On Thursday, July 23th at 5 pm the ongoing weekly Okanagan Institute Express series at the Bohemian Café presents Pride & Prejudice: Challenging Attitudes. Join us as Peter Ord - curator of the Penticton Museum, Michael V. Smith - professor, writer and activist, and James Chin - psychiatrist, explore the good, bad and ugly sides of pride in all its forms. The event marks the first in a series of sessions taking a close look at what has traditionally been called The Seven Deadly Sins.
Marginalized groups often shine the light on personal pride in order to raise awareness about human rights and equality. From bra-burning in the 1960s to the gay pride marches of today - these demonstrations have been about cultivating individual pride and educating others.
Then there's the dark side of pride - when a misplaced sense of self over-shadows or ignores others. Recent news reports out of Winnipeg point to the disturbing case of so steeped in "White Pride", they sent their seven-year-old daughter to school with a swastikas drawn on her arm.
 Peter Ord is Director/Curator of the Penticton Museum & Archives, a position he has held since 2006. Peter was born in Sri Lanka and grew up in the Far East until 1982, when he attended the Universitv of Victoria and studied Economics and Asian Studies. Peter completed a Masters degree in Archaeology and Social Anthropology from the University of Edinburgh in 1996 and accomplished his fieldwork in Central Vietnam studying the 'Topophilia' of Cham temples. Peter had the fortune to marry a Canadian and promptly moved to Vancouver where he worked independently as a heritage management consultant. He moved to the Okanagan in 2002 and presently lives in Naramata with his wife Diane and two children.
 Michael V. Smith is the only UBC-Okanagan Assistant Professor who is also a writer, comedian, filmmaker, performance artist and occasional clown. In recent years, Smith won Vancouver's Community Hero of the Year Award and the inaugural Dayne Ogilvie Award for Emerging Gay Writers. He's also won a Western Magazine Award for Fiction, scooped two short film prize categories at Toronto's Inside Out festival, and was nominated for the Journey Prize. Vancouver Magazine thought he was one of the city's 25 most influential gay citizens whereas Loop Magazine named him one of Vancouver's Most Dangerous People.
 Dr. James Chin planted his roots in Fort St. James, BC and is proud of his Chinese-Jamaican-Canadian heritage. He finished his Bachelor of Science at UBC Vancouver and then went on to medical school at the University of Toronto. Following that, he remained in Toronto for the next five years to specialize in Psychiatry. The call of the BC wild was strong, however, and he moved to Kelowna in 2003 while the fires were burning.
FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO REGISTER ONLINE CLICK HERE
Pride & Prejudice: Challenging Attitudes takes place at the Bohemian Café. This marks the 99th event the Okanagan Institute has held since the Express series got underway in July 2007.
Express has played host to many Okanagan luminaries, including former deputy secretary general of Amnesty International Derek Evans, artists Lee Claremont and Gary Pearson, BC Book Award nominee Don Gayton, CBC Literary prize winner poet Harold Rhenisch, distinguished editor and author Jim Taylor, poet and professor John Lent, animator and filmmaker Jim Cliffe, community activist Don Elzer, dancer David LaHay, architect Jim Meiklejohn, culinary artist and writer Heidi Noble, broadcaster Marion Barschel and others from a wide range of creative fields.
 
NEW! Up Chute Creek is a portrait of Okanagan landscape and people like no other. It is alternately passionate, joyful, heartbreaking, lyrical, quirky, and always wise, and always human, in the best sense. This is a book for the people of the Okanagan, both new and old, to treasure and to share.
» 208 pages, paperback, $20. Illustrated with photographs throughout.
» For information and to order, click HERE.
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